Hey Planner Friends! It’s Rachel Newman and I am thrilled to be on the 2018 Carpe Diem Creative Team. I am a planner girl through and through, and I can’t wait to share with you all the ways I use and decorate my (many) planners! For my first blog post, I want to share how I used the Simple Stories I AM collection to decorate my monthly and weekly pages in my Blush planner for March. But before we get into the planner pages, let’s talk dashboards and planner pockets!

I am more likely to actually use my planner when it is just the right mix of pretty and functional. When it comes to my planner pockets, I try to decorate them enough so that they are pretty to look at, without over stuffing them. For the opening dashboard, I kept it pretty simple with a trimmed down paper from the I AM paper pad and a planner decal. So pretty and still so functional!

I decided to spruce up my March divider with another trimmed down sheet from the paper pad, which I punched and adhered straight to the divider. I love that I can still see a little of the original dashboard peeking out and bordering the floral paper. If you look closely, you can see that the paper has a typewriter print on it! How cool! Lastly, I added a  Sn@P card from the Sn@P Card pack and some washi to complete this dashboard. Simple, but beautiful!

Now, for the monthly spread! First, I created a faux washi down the middle of the two pages with paper from the collection kit.

Then, I filled in my major events using icons from the sticker tablet. I finished up my decorating with stickers and ephemera from the bits and pieces pack.

The weekly spread is next - which is my favorite part to decorate! I consider myself an equal opportunity planner girl. I love trying out a variety of insert formats, so the fact that Carpe Diem inserts are undated means I don’t have to commit to one kind of weekly planning. This week, I wanted to try out the appointment inserts.

I love that these inserts are lined can be used as hourly inserts or can be easily modified to be a completely blank slate! And I cannot get over how adorable the I AM collections looks with all the great little icons and boxes from the new sticker tablets!  

I love adding little pocket cards into my weekly spread for a little inspiration. To make this pocket card dashboard, I placed two butterfly stickers together to create a tab, and punched the card using the planner punch.

Since I like to plan just about anywhere, I always have a storage pouch in the back of my planner filled with stickers, pocket cards and bits and pieces that I can use throughout the month to decorate my pages. The 4x6 I AM sticker pack will easily last me the entire month, with stickers to spare!

I hope you enjoyed getting a peek into my planner setup and process. I look forward to sharing more planner posts with you this year!